Siege of Zutfen (1618)

The Siege of Zutfen (1618) occurred when the Dutch general Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange succeeded in capturing the city of Zutfen in the Habsburg Netherlands from its Austrian garrison during the Eighty Years' War. Frederick Henry, the heir of Maurice of Orange, recruited a sizable mercenary army and set out to conquer the large Habsburg garrison, which was a direct threat to Dutch possessions in the north. His army laid siege to the city when spring began, and they build rams for use against the gates of the city. The Austrian garrison attempted to repel the attackers with flaming oil and with gunfire, but the Dutch succeeded in breaching the perimeter and charging into the city, massacring a group of Austrian supply wagons. The Dutch proceeded to overwhelm the defenders at the gates and chase down the Austrian forces as they slowly withdrew to the city center, cutting them to ribbons. The Dutch and Austrians fought a long battle near the city center, with the Habsburg garrison fighting to the death. The Austrian commander, Karl Felix Graf von Althan, was captured in the ensuing battle, and the mercenaries overwhelmed the Austrians, despite suffering heavy losses (half of their force). The capture of Zutfen was the first major battle to be fought between the Dutch and the Habsburgs since a truce was declared several years earlier, and it tied in with the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War further to the east.